Thanks! I think the question of how much “fun” is allowed or encouraged is an important one for us to consider. Honestly I still feel unsure about how to balance this. Here are some disorganized thoughts:
I agree that if people felt more like it was fun to be on the Forum, that might increase our overall usage.
I think we can make the Forum compelling even if it doesn’t fulfill all of the reasons one might enjoy a community (for example, discussions can still be thought-provoking and feel valuable without being fun).
I think that moving away from seriousness runs the risk of making communication harder, and I think clearly communicating is quite important because this is a space where we should care about nuance and truth-seeking. I worry that the more people talk past each other and the less we understand what the other is saying, the less productive discussions will be.
I also think it matters how people who are unfamiliar with EA read and interpret what happens on the Forum, more so than other spaces (like EA Facebook groups). So, at least when just considering this reason, the importance of clear communication here is higher than other platforms.
I’m guessing that if we are otherwise successful at increasing the amount of “community” on the Forum, that one side-effect is that [groups of] users will know each other better and be more able to communicate clearly between them, so naturally there will be more writing that is informal and the overall tone will become less serious. (It’s possible that this is a chicken and egg situation though, I just don’t know.)
I generally agree with some points others brought up around how other platforms can fulfill that need (of being a culturally EA space that is more about fun).
It might just be too hard for a single space to succeed at both serious + productive discussion and being fun, in which case I think it’s more important for us to succeed at the former.
I still do want us to be a space where people can do silly and fun things (like April Fools day), partly because like, it makes me happy! :)
I wrote a bit more about seriousness and having high standards in this earlier comment as well.
Thanks! I think the question of how much “fun” is allowed or encouraged is an important one for us to consider. Honestly I still feel unsure about how to balance this. Here are some disorganized thoughts:
I agree that if people felt more like it was fun to be on the Forum, that might increase our overall usage.
I think we can make the Forum compelling even if it doesn’t fulfill all of the reasons one might enjoy a community (for example, discussions can still be thought-provoking and feel valuable without being fun).
I think that moving away from seriousness runs the risk of making communication harder, and I think clearly communicating is quite important because this is a space where we should care about nuance and truth-seeking. I worry that the more people talk past each other and the less we understand what the other is saying, the less productive discussions will be.
I also think it matters how people who are unfamiliar with EA read and interpret what happens on the Forum, more so than other spaces (like EA Facebook groups). So, at least when just considering this reason, the importance of clear communication here is higher than other platforms.
I’m guessing that if we are otherwise successful at increasing the amount of “community” on the Forum, that one side-effect is that [groups of] users will know each other better and be more able to communicate clearly between them, so naturally there will be more writing that is informal and the overall tone will become less serious. (It’s possible that this is a chicken and egg situation though, I just don’t know.)
I generally agree with some points others brought up around how other platforms can fulfill that need (of being a culturally EA space that is more about fun).
It might just be too hard for a single space to succeed at both serious + productive discussion and being fun, in which case I think it’s more important for us to succeed at the former.
I still do want us to be a space where people can do silly and fun things (like April Fools day), partly because like, it makes me happy! :)
I wrote a bit more about seriousness and having high standards in this earlier comment as well.